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LEAH R. GERBER Assistant Professor Ph.D., 1998, University of Washington, Seattle Send e-mail to Leah.Gerber@asu.edu

Conservation Biology, Population Ecology, Animal Behavior

My research program integrates field and modeling approaches to address questions at the interface of conservation science and policy. I work on developing approaches to connect scientific uncertainty to decision-making in endangered species recovery, marine reserve design, and disease and conservation. While my research focuses primarily on marine ecosystems, I am most broadly driven by questions rather than particular species or ecosystems. Primary research foci in my laboratory include: 1) the application of decision analysis to prioritize endangered species recovery actions, 2) developing design and monitoring criteria for marine protected areas in the Gulf of California, and 3) developing approaches to integrate data on individuals (e.g., disease, behavior) into population-level analyses of extinction risk.

Selected Publications

Gerber, L.R., M. Beger, M.A. McCarthy, and H.P. Possingham. 2005. A theory for optimal monitoring of marine reserves. Ecology Letters 8 (8): 829-837.

Gerber, L.R., K.D. Lafferty, H. McCallum J.L. Sabo and A. Dobson. 2005. Exposing extinction risk analysis to pathogens: Is disease just another form of density dependence? Ecological Applications 15(4): 1402-1414.

Gerber, L.R., K. D. Hyrenbach and M.A. Zacharias. 2005. Do the world’s largest protected areas conserve whales or whalers? Science 307:525-526.

Gerber, L.R., S. Heppell, F. Ballantyne and E. Sala. 2005. The role of dispersal and demography in determining the efficacy of marine reserves. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62:863-871.

Gerber, L.R., M.T. Tinker, D. Doak and J. Estes. 2004. Mortality sensitivity in life-stage simulation analysis: A case study of Southern sea otters. Ecological Applications 14(5): 1554-1565.

Hooker, S. and L.R. Gerber. 2004. Potential importance of megafauna: Marine reserves as a tool for ecosystem-based management? BioScience 54(1):29-41.

Gerber, L.R, L. Botsford, A. Hastings, H. Possingham, S. Gaines, S. Palumbi and S. Andelman. 2003. Population Models for Reserve Design: A retrospective and prospective synthesis. Ecological Applications (Special Issue on Marine Reserves) 13:S47-S64.

Gerber, L.R. and L.T. Hatch. 2002. Are We Recovering? An Evaluation of Recovery Criteria under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Ecological Applications 12(3): 668-673.

Gerber, L.R., P.M. Kareiva and J. Bascompte. 2002. The Interplay of Life History Attributes and Fishing Pressure in Evaluating Efficacy of Marine Reserves. Biological Conservation 106:11-18.

Lafferty, K. and L.R. Gerber. 2002. Good Medicine for Conservation Biology: The intersection of epidemiology and conservation theory. Conservation Biology 16(3):1-12.

Gerber, L.R., S.L. Perry and D.P. DeMaster. 2000. Measuring Success in Conservation. American Scientist 88(4):316-324.

Gerber, L.R., D.P. DeMaster and P.M. Kareiva. 1999. Gray Whales Illustrate the Value of Monitoring Data in Implementing the Endangered Species Act. Conservation Biology 13(5):1215-1219.